Graphene, single-atomic-layer graphite, has long been thought to have unique electronic properties due to the unusual configuration of its energy bands. Many of these arise from the fact that electrons in graphene have a dispersion relation (energy vs. momentum relation) similar to that of photons, but with a reduced "speed of light". This makes many relativistic phenomena, normally only seen in particle accelerators, accessible under normal laboratory conditions.
Until recently it was thought that this was little more than a theoretical curiosity, and that attempts to isolate graphene would be doomed to failure because the sheet of atoms would curl up and deform. This changed in 2004, when single-layer graphene was isolated by an astonishingly simple method involving little more that a piece of graphite and some sticky tape.
This PhD project is an investigation of the properties of quasi-relativistic electrons in graphene in high magnetic fields. Such magnetic fields completely quantise the electrons's motion and lead to the formation of quantum condensates analogous to those responsible for superconductivity. The group has pioneered the technique of torque magnetometry, which is one of the most direct probes of the equilibrium state of the electrons. Graphene presents a particular challenge to the technique because of the small sample size (typically 10 by 10 um). We will use methods borrowed from atomic-force microscopy to detect the subtle but highly informative magnetisation signal produced by this novel system - an important world first in the study of graphene.